Shloka 22

Devanagari script

तस्मिन्‌ घोरे सदा पार्थ संग्रामे रोमहर्षणे । दौणिकर्णकृपैर्गुप्तां महेष्वासै: प्रहारिभि:,कुन्तीनन्दन! उस रोमांचकारी घोर संग्राममें अश्वत्थामा, कर्ण और कृपाचार्य आदि प्रहारकुशल बड़े-बड़े धनुर्धरोंसे सुरक्षित उस कौरव-सेनाको उस समय बहुरूपधारी महाधनुर्धर भगवान्‌ महेश्वरके सिवा दूसरा कौन मनसे भी नष्ट कर सकता था

Transliteration

tasmin ghore sadā pārtha saṅgrāme romaharṣaṇe | dauṇikarṇa-kṛpair guptāṃ maheṣvāsaiḥ prahāribhiḥ | kuntīnandana! us romāñcakārī ghora saṅgrām meṃ aśvatthāmā, karṇa aur kṛpācārya ādi prahārakuśala baṛe-baṛe dhanurdharoṃ se surakṣit us kaurava-senā ko us samay bahurūpadhārī mahādhanurdhara bhagavān maheśvara ke sivā dūsrā kaun man se bhī naṣṭ kar saktā thā

Translation

Vyāsa sprach: «O Pārtha—Sohn der Kuntī—, in jener schrecklichen Schlacht, die das Haar zu Berge stehen ließ, war das Heer der Kauravas von Aśvatthāmā, Karṇa, Kṛpa und anderen großen Bogenschützen geschützt, kundig im tödlichen Schlag. Wer hätte damals, außer dem vielgestaltigen Maheśvara—dem höchsten der Bogenschützen—dieses Heer auch nur im Gedanken vernichten können?»

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'tasmin', 'definition': 'in that (situation/time)'}, {'term': 'ghore', 'definition': 'terrible, dreadful'}, {'term': 'sadā', 'definition': 'always, continually'}, {'term': 'saṅgrāme', 'definition': 'in battle'}, {'term': 'romaharṣaṇe', 'definition': 'causing horripilation

• thrilling, hair-raising'}, {'term': 'guptām', 'definition': 'protected, guarded'}, {'term': 'maheṣvāsaiḥ', 'definition': 'by great bowmen (lit. those with great bows)'}, {'term': 'prahāribhiḥ', 'definition': 'by skilled strikers/attackers

• adept in delivering blows'}, {'term': 'Kuntīnandana', 'definition': 'son of Kuntī (Arjuna)'}, {'term': 'bahurūpadhārī', 'definition': 'assuming many forms

• protean'}, {'term': 'mahādhanurdhara', 'definition': 'great wielder of the bow

• supreme archer'}, {'term': 'Maheśvara', 'definition': 'the Great Lord

• Śiva'}, {'term': 'manasā api', 'definition': 'even by mind

• even in thought'}, {'term': 'naṣṭum', 'definition': 'to destroy, to annihilate'}]

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• Pārtha (Arjuna)
• Kuntīnandana (Arjuna)
• Aśvatthāmā
• Karṇa
• Kṛpa (Kṛpācārya)
• Kaurava army (Kaurava-senā)
• Maheśvara (Śiva)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the limits of human power in the face of an exceptionally fortified force, suggesting that only a divine, many-formed supreme power (Maheśvara/Śiva) could accomplish its destruction—even conceptually. Ethically, it frames the war’s escalation as surpassing ordinary human measure, inviting reflection on hubris, the fragility of human agency, and the sense of fate or cosmic order operating through events.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa describes the battlefield as terrifying and hair-raising, emphasizing that the Kaurava army is heavily protected by elite warriors such as Aśvatthāmā, Karṇa, and Kṛpa. He then poses a rhetorical question: who could destroy such a guarded host except the great Lord Maheśvara, portrayed as a supreme archer capable of many forms.